Bronx, NY (March 27, 2019) – Five different starters ended the day with multi-hit efforts as Purchase baseball cruised past Lehman College, 16-7, in nine innings on Wednesday. The victory marked the sixth straight win for the Panthers as they move to 10-4 overall.
Following a scoreless first inning from both teams, sophomore designated hitter
Matthew Mulligan (Bellport, NY) batted in the first run for Purchase in the top of the second. His sacrifice fly to center field with one out on the board scored senior first baseman
Brian Cunningham (Westbury, NY).
The Panthers added four more in the fourth to take a 5-0 lead. PC sophomore and this week's Skyline Conference Player of the Week,
Dylan Flynn (Hauppauge, NY) led off in the fourth with a double down the left field line. Junior right fielder
John Fitzgerald (Wantagh, NY) reached on a Lehman error and on the same play, Flynn advanced to third. Cunningham cleared the bases in the next at-bat with a double to left center and came around to score on a Mulligan single. Sophomore left fielder
Zack Dicanio (Mastic, NY) capped the Purchase run with a single up the middle that pushed Mulligan across home plate.
Purchase swiped two more runs in the fifth and eight more in the sixth to stretch its lead to a comfortable 15-0 over the Lightning. The Panthers combined for 10 hits over the two innings, batting around the order in the sixth-inning surge. Wallace highlighted the notable inning with a three-run homerun to left field.
Junior pitcher
Nicholas Torres (Cornwall, NY) held the Lightning scoreless over the first five innings and freshman
Jemal Betances (Bronx, NY) continued the shutout for a sixth inning in relief. The Lehman offense did not come alive until the bottom of the seventh when the Lightning used two hits and two Purchase errors to score six runs against rookie relievers Matthew Boyle (FR/Hauppauge, NY) and
Alex Miller (FR/Reno, NV).
In the top of the eighth inning, Purchase sophomore
Glennd Jarrin (Bronx, NY) led off with a walk and freshman
Max Vera (Bethpage, NY) singled and advanced on an error by the left fielder. Senior center fielder
Matthew Villalobos (Brooklyn, NY) scored Jarrin on a RBI groundout to the second baseman, pushing PC's lead to 16-6.
Lehman added a run in the bottom of the ninth, but Panther closer
Lorenzo Lagares (JR/Jamaica, NY) would later record the final three outs of the game to secure the 16-7 Purchase victory.
Cunningham ended the day going 3-for-3 with three runs and a season-best four RBI. Fitzgerald went 2-for-4 with three runs and two RBI, while Flynn hit 3-for-5 with three swipes across home plate.
Nick Tuozzola (SR/Milford, CT) and Dicanio rounded out the multi-hit efforts with two hits each.
Torres (1-1) posted an impressive performance on the mound for PC, finishing with a season-best 5.0 innings of scoreless baseball. He allowed just three hits, one walk and struck out one for his first win of the season.
Purchase returns to the diamond on Saturday to kick off Skyline Conference action at the College of Mount Saint Vincent. First pitch of the league doubleheader is set for 12 p.m.
